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| Down the artistic road
by Jules Masterjohn Ours is a world bombarded with visual information. Everywhere we look, there is something to lure our eyes and entice our minds. From the buildings we frequent to advertisements and signage, and even the beloved coffee grinder, there is a person or a creative team that worked to create the visuals that draw our attention. This is the realm of the commercial artist. Durango artist Louise Grunewald knows the commercial art world well. For nearly 25 years, Grunewald made commercial logos, product IDs, brochures, posters and greeting cards as a freelance commercial artist. Today, she easily applies the discipline and practice developed during that rigorous period toward her personal artistic efforts. "The transition from commercial artist to fine artist has been occurring for the last nine years," she offered. "I am now working to please myself, not my clients, and my work has become more experimental, both in the ideas I am exploring and the materials I am choosing to work with." A selection of Grunewald's creative work can be seen in the exhibit, "Excerpts," on display in the Program Rooms at the Durango Public Library. In preparation for the exhibit, a 30-year retrospective, she has been culling through flat files and portfolios as well as reflecting on her life as an artist. Thinking back to her younger days, living in the Denver area while freelancing as a commercial artist and specializing in calligraphy, she seems in awe of her productivity and good fortune. "I worked more than full time. I don't even know how many greeting cards I made … probably thousands. I had always wanted to be a greeting card designer, so it was my dream job." Many of Grunewald's designs were also transferred onto mugs and magnets, giving her commercial work far-reaching appeal and distribution. She spent her workdays doing precisely what she had been trained for and loves - making images with paint and letters - like creating a colorful landscape using watercolor and a hand-lettered inspirational quote by Emerson. For 15 years, she produced designs for Leanin' Tree Publishing, one of the county's leading greeting card companies. Later, Grunewald began creating and marketing cards and posters based on inspirational phrases of her own choosing, such as "Enlightenment is simply pure and focused common sense." There have been unexpected rewards related to these commercial images, like hearing from total strangers that the words and images on her posters had been of great comfort and meaning during difficult times. It is not surprising that Grunewald's work would have a soothing affect on viewers. Though her commercial work was primarily based on a message written in a specific text style or "hand," as its known in calligraphy circles, she paid special attention to integrating the lettering with the imagery. Her compositions display a strong sense of design where harmony and balance reign. As her need for and interest in commercial design work has waned, her concern for the hand-made letter has unfolded into an ongoing investigation of the calligraphic stroke. From using legible words, or creating text that is integrated into the painting design, to the simple calligraphic marks used for their intrinsic aesthetic value, Grunewald loves the hand-written word. Having studied calligraphy with the masters in the field and labored-over repetitions of Roman capitals, she has learned the rules in order to break them. In her mixed-media paintings, "Written Responses," small bits of legible text can be found slightly camouflaged amidst the colorful abstraction of shapes and brush strokes. "After doing the commercial work, I made a deal with myself to have all the text come from me. It now feels more authentic to use my own words in my art." Today, text finds its way into Grunewald's work solely in her hand-made artist books, where she combines painting, calligraphy, and her newest passion, a printmaking technique called solar etching. The process of solar etching, which utilizes direct sunlight to etch marks onto a photosensitive printing plate (from which multiple prints can be made), has opened up new ways for Grunewald to think about her subject matter, pushing her toward an ever-increasing abstract style. The calligraphic mark, albeit in gestural form, continues to find a presence in her work. Grunewald experiences her life as an artistic journey, having been an art student, a secondary school art teacher, and a graphic designer. Currently, she divides her time between her studio in Hermosa and teaching design and calligraphy workshops around the country. "The lifetime journey of an artist could be analogous to a long road trip. It includes much anticipation, planning, dreaming, mapping, exploration into unknown territory, detours, unpaved sections, roadblocks, longer hours at the wheel than planned, and every so often, the necessity of a new vehicle when the old one is no longer appropriate, or even working." "Excerpts" will open on Sun., Feb. 8, with a reception from 3-5 p.m. in the Program Rooms at the Durango Public Library, 1900 E. Third Ave. Grunewald will also give a free slide-talk, "Traveling the Artistic Road," on Wed., Feb. 11, at 7 p.m. at the same location. • |
The Independent Weekly Line on Durango and Beyond
